My Bride and I decided to go to Steve & Rocky’s, and it may sound like one of our watering holes called Rocky’s, well you are half right.  The restaurant is a merger of two old school restaurants of fame in the Detroit dining history.  Charles “Chuck” “Rocky” Rachwitz worked for the C.A. Muer Restaurant Corporation for eighteen years and many of those original restaurants are still standing and existing, even with the untimely death of Chuck Muer. Rocky was the Corporate Executive Chef for the Muer organization, and prior to the death of Muer, Rocky took over the old Northville Charley’s and made it Rocky’s.  Steve Allen trained under and worked for Chef Milos Cihelka at the old Golden Mushroom and later became the Executive Chef for five years, after Chef Milo’s retirement.  Eventually the two sat down and created a joint venture that is still going strong still, since January 1998.      

The menu had too many choices for us, and it was a very tough decision, as they were just some of the great classic entrées that have stood the test of time.  My Bride had the Tasting of Three Soups; Shrimp Provencal, Gazpacho and Chef Milos’ Mushroom (the first time that we went to the Golden Mushroom, is when we began dating, as this was one of her favorite restaurants, and she still talks about it.  She then had a salad of Heirloom Tomatoes and Burrata, spring greens, shaved red onion and Basil Vinaigrette along with Grilled Atlantic Salmon.  She was enjoying Chateau Miraval “Studio by Miraval” Mediterranée IGP 2020.  Chateau Miraval, once housed a recording studio used by Pink Floyd and by Sting, who named the Chateau.  It is probably more famous because of the movie stars that own it, in a partnership with the Perrin family.  The estate is a five-hundred-hectare property with olive groves and vineyards.  They offer four wines, their flagship Chateau Miraval, two white wines made from Rolle and this wine that used to carry the Vin de France designation, and now has the more modern IGP appellation which covers a large swath of land, and really no hard and fast rules for wine production.  The two principal grapes used by the Chateau is Grenache and Cinsaut, and there is no breakdown or trade notes.  I will say that it probably is aged for a couple of months in Stainless Steel, as the wine was very floral, crisp with intense red fruit and a nice flinty finish.  It also paired very well with the tomatoes, which can be tricky.  

I was very hard pressed to decide to on an entrée, but I went with one, that I haven’t had in a while.  I started off with a bowl of the Shrimp Provencal soup.  I then had St. Louis Barbecue Ribs with a Traverse City cherry and coffee glaze, Redskin mashed potatoes and Street Corn off the Cob.  The ribs fell off of the bones, and the street corn had a zest that was enjoyable.  I went with Chateau Lassegue “Les Cadrans de Lassegue” Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2016.  The winery goes back to the 17^th Century, but the big modern news is that it was bought by Jess Jackson and Barbara Bank in 2003 and part of the Jackson Family’s Spire Collection.  The estate is twenty-four hectares planted with sixty percent Merlot, thirty-five percent Cabernet Franc and five percent Cabernet Sauvignon.  The vines are from forty to fifty-five years in age on a soil of chalk, clay and limestone. The wine I had is the second label of the winery and is a blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, aged probably close to a year in French Oak, of which about thirty-five percent is new.  Of course, I have a long bias towards Saint-Emilion Grand Cru wines, since high school and this wine made me totally happy.  The beautiful nose of dark red fruits, with beautiful notes from the Cabernet Franc and a nice terroir driven finish.  It was a delightful dinner.